Bogdan Badea withdraws candidacy for Hidroelectrica CEO

Bogdan Badea, the interim CEO of Hidroelectrica and chairman of the Board, announced yesterday that he is withdrawing his candidacy for the position of CEO, although he had passed the first stage of the selection procedure and was on the shortlist of candidates for the position.

Bogdan Badea declared: "Today I made the decision not to run and I announced this decision. I tell you, it was not very easy, but what happened recently mattered, namely the fact that Romania's problems were reduced to the most important state-owned companies which, unlike what is happening in the country today, have demonstrated performance, and this performance, regardless of what one politician or another says, is measurable. (...) I do not believe that what happened recently represents normality. We did not want to involve the company in political debates, although we were introduced, but we cannot accept being humiliated, being trampled, being harassed by all kinds of political decision-makers who do this, out of a desire to shift attention from Romania's real problems to the most valuable state-owned companies. However, from my point of view, certain things must have a limit. I do not want to lead Hidroelectrica in such an environment specific to the 1950s. Back then, I was chasing the scoundrels, back then we were arresting and imprisoning Romania's intellectuals, just like that, creating frustrations, pointing fingers, criticizing without foundation. This is the reason why I personally do not want to continue this competition.”

He stated that things have changed a lot for the better within the company since 2017 - since he took over as interim president - and until today, despite political decision-makers.

"No politician in Romania stood in front of the investors when we did the listing. We put Hidroelectrica on the map. We talked to the investors and tried to convince them to come to Romania, because investment opportunities are all over the world. We are a dot on the map, and investment funds, when they choose to invest in Romania, in Hidroelectrica or in Asia, look at what the company shows, what development prospects it has, what the management proposes to do and they make the decision: "yes, this is a place where it is worth investing because there is traceability, because there is performance and because there is a coherent direction'." No one stood in front of the investors, as I said, and the company's listing - because this was also a big topic of discussion - was done by colleagues from Hidroelectrica, by the consultants we had, by the representatives of Fondul Proprietatea who, together with us, made all the efforts and resources necessary to be, up to last, the most successful listing in Romania. Since then, not a single day have Hidroelectrica shares fallen below the price we had in mind, of 104 lei, at the time of the listing. Since then, the company's value has continuously increased, with the share reaching 180 lei. As such, I used to say that it is never too late to learn new things, but I also say that not from just anyone. And in terms of energy, and in terms of listings, I think there are very few politicians today who can give us lessons", stated Bogdan Badea.

Regarding the withdrawal from the race, Mr. Badea mentioned that it is a personal decision, which he made seeing everything that has happened recently.

"It doesn't seem normal to me to be the subject of public debate without arguments, to be forced to make certain investments that may not make economic sense, to be conditioned by the budget and memoranda, because we are talking about corporate governance. There is no more corporate governance in Romania. It's a joke. From the moment we come to depend, to hire a person in a power plant, to go and beg the government to let us explain why we need two people on shift, why we need people for supply when we are the largest supplier in Romania, are we still talking about corporate governance? There is no such thing anymore. We are back in the "90s. We are back in the "90s. Personally, it doesn't seem normal to me and I don't want to be part of this equation. (...) I am very sorry that the politicians who brought the country to where we are today do not appreciate this. But I think that, once we have a stable and normal government, maybe we can talk seriously about what is left of corporate governance corporate governance in state-owned companies. If we go back to the principle that one man knows everything, I don't know what our role is anymore. If decisions come from the top down and not from the bottom up, if decisions are not made by technical people who are good at it and by political people who know everything, then it makes no sense to move forward. (...) What is happening is not a healthy environment. There is no longer corporate governance in Romania and it is important to know in which direction we are going. If we ever want, in a settled environment, without political emotions, to return to what made all the energy companies that you see today - Hidroelectrica, Nuclearelectrica, Transgaz, Transelectrica - which have a performance far above the country's performance, to remain that way, then we are at the table. If we want to go back to the "daddy" who knows everything and tells us what to do, no, thank you, I don't want it anymore", said Bogdan Badea.

When asked which "daddy" he was referring to, the president of the Hidroelectrica Directorate refused to name any politician, but said that it is about principles and that the current way of leadership practiced by political decision-makers is one that belongs to the past of history.

"When companies are run not by specialists, but by politicians, then they should take full responsibility, but let's not talk about corporate governance anymore. It no longer makes sense to invent dozens of institutions paid for from public money to pretend that we are doing corporate governance. If we really wanted to, it was very simple. Let's look at all the European countries where the state is the majority shareholder, on what principles they operate. Do you think there is any other state that has legislation similar to that in Romania? I tell you, no. And I can give you countless examples if we wanted to take over models from other places. If we wanted to have strong companies, companies that are regional players, then this could be done. It was not wanted, it is not wanted. I find that it is a witch hunt because Romania's problems are over. We started with merit scholarships for children and ended with the most performing companies in Romania and we are taking them piece by piece for that, yes, we are not in line. We are probably not in line and then we need to be aligned”, stated Bogdan Badea, who mentioned that he hopes that his decision to withdraw from the selection procedure will lead to the Government unblocking the memoranda that need approval so that Hidroelectrica can increase its activity in the supply area and the investment area.

He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the Government decided, at the end of last year, to block hiring at state-owned companies, including Hidroelectrica, a company that is facing a staff shortage.

"It doesn't seem normal to me, because this provision appeared somewhere at the end of last year through the "trenuleţ ordinance", which prohibited any employment in vacant positions. Hidroelectrica has a personnel regulation. The staff there has a certain dynamic. There are people who retire, you have to hire other people; in order to get on the shift, those people have to be trained. What was the effect? That where we got caught with the vacant position, for various reasons, the others who stayed worked additional shifts and we paid them more. This is not what reform in state-owned companies means. Reform in state-owned companies means letting managers do their job, not finding out what we have to do from the press. This is also a model. It was in Romania. The same Hidroelectrica was there in 2009 and 2010. Production was much higher, but I don't know if we were making 100 million in profit and it was being targeted from all directions. (...) What was the model implemented in 2009? I remember, since I was a director at Electrica and it was the same: 2008, 2009 came - we cut salaries, the country needs money. It meant corruption, it meant inefficiency, it meant the departure of all people of good faith and we saw the results. Hidroelectrica, after many years, went bankrupt. This is the model. We saw it, we implemented it, we know the result. It's just that I sometimes have the feeling that we have a shorter memory than we should and we don't learn from the mistakes of the past".

He specified that, following his retirement, he would remain in the position of investment director within Hidroelectrica SA, in order to continue the ongoing projects, and that he hopes that, on May 29, 2026, the General Meeting of Shareholders will approve the budget for this year, a budget that also includes investments of one billion lei.